This invention relates to a display track device for merchandising articles, and more particularly to a channel-shaped track device of a multiple-piece construction which enables low-cost molding of such devices.
Channel-shaped track devices have been used in the merchandising of a variety of products. The track devices, typically, are supported on a support surface such as a shelf in a tilted condition. Each device receives articles in a row so that the received articles slide or gravity feed one after another to the front of the respective track as the leading articles in the row are removed from the track. Among these known track devices, two-piece construction devices are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,337 (Flum); U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,968 (Wombacher); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,126 (Foster et al). Wombacher and Foster et al each disclose a track device having a separate front stopper attached to the track base. Because these patents require a transversely extending front wall to assure the structural strength of the device, the front stoppers taught by these patents cannot be used to construct some type of tracker devices wherein such front walls are not desired. Front walls would conflict with the arrangement shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,176 to Jay where increased visibility of leading articles is intended.
Flum's device includes front and rear separate members arranged in telescoping relationship which may be employed in Jay's track device. However, the Flum patent requires side walls of a hollow, double-wall structure which is not only expensive but also bulky such that it requires substantial dead space between two adjacent tracks.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved multiple-piece construction track device which allows economical application of a variety of designs to different portions of the track.